We chat with Jerome Farah ahead of his sold out debut headline show at Chapel Summer Sessions.
After a 2020 which positioned Jerome Farah as one of the hottest new acts on the circuit, the artist’s hard work and dedication to musicmaking has paved the way for his Chapel Summer Sessions debut, one which will see him take to the stage on Sunday March 28.
“It was strange because I feel like a lot of artists had two ways to go about 2020, some could’ve found it hard to find inspiration in the four walls of their room or their house,” Farah says.
“But I felt like I was really getting inspired because 2020 was the first time I had ever put music out, I began my solo career during that time.”
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Being locked down and away from others helped Farah reflect on his own life and create music that is important to him, and music that has clearly resonated with others, helping him establish a slew of like-minded fans across the country.
“It put me in a situation where it was a push, it made me look inwards and deal with things that you can’t really deal with when you have the distraction of life, I was super bored, but super creative, and I just filled my time making music, I probably wrote two albums worth of music.”
Farah only has three solo tracks to his name so far. He made his debut with ‘I Can’t Breathe’ in June 2020, before releasing ‘Vibrate’ and ‘Mikey Might’ later that year. He’s also had a big feature, providing vocals on Tash Sultana’s 2020 single, ‘Willow Tree’.
While his solo career is only enjoying its first strides, Farah is definitely not a stranger to the industry, having produced and co-wrote tracks for the likes of Baker Boy, KIAN and Adrian Eagle.
Farah, alongside these three groundbreaking artists, shares a passion for spreading a message for change in his music, something the creative also wants to bring forward in his live performances.
“I feel like everybody should write music for the way that they wanna write music, and that’s the beautiful thing about it, there’s no right or wrong version of it,” he says.
“But I think that in some form, you should try to use your platform to do better, try to move at least one or two people.”
After a year of livestreams, Sunday March 28 will mark one of the first times Farah has graced a stage in person, and will in fact be his first-ever headline show.
“I’m totally over live streams!” Farah laughs. “There’s no better connection than from live shows, you know? People can listen to a recording and it’ll be great or whatever, but if you go to a live show, even if you don’t know the band, and they’re just doing their thing, you can easily become a fan of those people.
“The connection you get from that is so much stronger than listening to a recording.”
Farah’s songs pack a punch lyrically, and it’s the emotion behind his music that can only be experienced to its full extent in a live setting. By connecting with songs on the live stage, this could be the very thing that inspires another future music maker to step out of the theatre and chase their dream.
“Live music is important for the people listening and for the musicians,” Farah says. “I remember the first gig I went to, that pretty much told me that I want to do this. I really want people to hear my words, it’s the most important part of this project that I’m doing.”
Farah will be joined by a full band for his much-anticipated Chapel Summer Sessions gig, something that is super important to him and fills him with plenty of excitement.
“A lot of my friends are super excited to help out with the show, [the band’s] gonna be a bit bigger, yeah. It’s gonna be pretty exciting I think, it’s the first time of playing with a full band!” he exclaims.
“I used to play in a band called Jakubi, and the feeling of playing in a band compared to just being on a stage with a DJ, you can’t match it at all.”
As is the case in COVID times, venues have had to adapt, and Chapel Summer Sessions will require patrons to stay seated for the entirety of the performance, something that Farah prefers.
“Now that most shows you have to sit down, I sort of like it, because people have more opportunity to listen to what I have to say rather than just dancing to the beat.”
And when summarising how he feels about his debut headline show, Farah can’t contain his enthusiasm.
“The show’s gonna be very different to anything else. I’m really excited, it’s gonna be really good, I think.”
Jerome Farah hits Chapel Off Chapel on Sunday March 28 (sold out). It’s the final gig of this year’s Chapel Summer Sessions.
